State Department: Chavez Has Middle Eastern Terror Ties

(17 May 06) The Washington Times published an article today based on an interview with the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Tom Shannon. In it Shannon alludes to ties that the Little Man from Caracas has ties to terror states Cuba and Iran. This latest row or war of words with the Little Man from Caracas brings no new items to the table. Read the article.

The Little Man is upset he is not getting enough media attention so, as usual, he makes outrageous statements to get international media attention. Like a new born baby in a crib when hungry, he will cry until he gets what he wants.

This time, however, has he gone a little too far by threatening to sell U.S. F-16s to Iran? Possibly, but he is no fool and the F-16 technology in the hands of the Venezuelan Air Force is not, by far, the most advanced technology available. If this does become a major concern, we guess that we can ensure that those planes never leave a Venezuelan port.

It boggles our minds why we allow dictators such as the Little Man from Caracas and the Bearded One from Havana to remain in power.

One interesting note from the Washington Times piece: "Cuban intelligence has effectively cloned itself inside Venezuelan intelligence to the point that [our] ability to cooperate and have a relationship with Venezuela on the intelligence side is very difficult," Mr. Shannon said. "We are worried about the kind of relationship [Mr. Chavez] wants to have with Iran on the intelligence side," he added.

WHPW Editors wonder what the political policy folks at Foggy Bottom, 1600 Penn, and our Congress are doing on these issues? It would appear that each has its own agenda and, the result, is no concerted effort to any issue of importance in the region. There is a hyper-focus on Colombia and the never-ending war on drugs (i.e., give weapons to Colombia with an endless list of conditions on how to use them), and a few other issues.

We crossed the cooperation rubicon with Venezuela and Cuba years ago. We would be less "worried," a term used by Shannon with the Times, and more focused on doing something to rid the hemisphere of these two political anachronisms before their meddling with terror groups and states leads to another attack on the U.S. or U.S. interests in the Americas.

There is more to Latin America than the "war on drugs." It is time we started acting like it.

Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, Cuba, Fidel Castro, terrorism, Western Hemisphere, Latin America, Middle East